Nawashi

Nawashi (縄師) (noun; lit. "rope master", "rope teacher"), is a word which in SM circles means "rope artist".[1] Nawashi are those who have some recognized proficiency in the historic erotic art of Japanese bondage (緊縛 (lit. "tight binding" kinbaku) or kinbaku-bi (lit. bondage beauty 緊縛美).

Female model Iroha Shizuki bound by kinbakushi Naka Akira in 2011

Other terms used in Japan for rope artists within SM culture are "kinbakushi" and "bakushi", with "bakushi" being more typical.

In early 2007 a documentary movie entitled Bakushi produced by Naoya Narita and directed by Ryūichi Hiroki was released. In it, Hiroki interviews three Japanese ropemasters (bakushi), Chimuo Nureki, Haruki Yukimura, and Go Arisue, along with three of their models, Hiromi Saotome, Sumire, and Taeko Uzuki.

Two famous nawashi are the late Osada Eikichi (2001) and Akechi Denki (2005). Other notable Japanese bakushi are Naka Akira, Haruki Yukimura, Osada Steve, Hajime Kinoko, Randa Mai, Go Arisue, Chimuo Nureki and Chiba Eizoh. One notable female bakushi is Benio Takara.

The art of kinbaku has become more well-known in the West, earliest since the mid-1990s, but gaining momentum especially in Denmark, Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands, around 2005-10.

A with a number of notable non-Japanese practitioners shaping their rope art in Japanese inspired forms. Later on learning directly the ryo of the japanese and the in Japan based bakushi.